Quick Links

Five More Chairs: One View Does traditional seating meet contemporary comfort standards? by Robert DeFuccio EDITOR'S NOTE: In January and February, Woodcraft Supply Corp. of Boston inaugurated a new display space at its retail store with a show of five traditional chairs made by contemporary craftsmen. Three of the chairmakers-Dunbar, Moser and Alexander-have written books about their techniques. So we asked Bob DeFuccio to go there and have a sit , and to give these five chairs the same rigorous scrutiny he had applied to five contemporary designs Oan. '79) . DeFuccio, of Spinnerstown, Pa., is an industrial design consultant for two chair manufacturers-Gunlocke Co. and Thonet Industries-and has designed chairs now in production at Gunlocke and Stow/Davis Furniture. He designs and makes his own full-scale prototypes, and teaches woodworking and furniture design at Philadelphia College of Art. In the following discussion and photo captions, all angular measurements of seat and back pitch relate to the horizontal floor and to a vertical line, respectively, not to the included angle formed by the seat and back. All five have been made with care and great rechnical expertise . The joinery is uniformly well done, the finishes are good. The choice of woods reflects a long tradition of craftsmanship and detailed lore. The forms are familiar to everyone: Their creators have made no effort to challenge our preconceptions. To many people, these chairs will evoke comfortable images of what chairs should be like. But they all seem to sacrifice comfort for historical accuracy. Their scale ref1ects people who weren't the same size as people today, and sometimes other modes of sitting. Many people will feel that these problems are overshadowed by what these chairs offer in the way of craftsmanship and esthetics. Others will feel that a chairmaker should heed the physiological needs of the sitter as well as his psychological need for the familiar. Whether one's own tastes run to traditional or COI1temporary furniture, these chairs certainly merit attention. Height / arms above seat: 9'/4 in. LongeJt back spindle: 19'/4 ill. 17 in. Weight. 9 lb. Price.' height: 35'/z in. Seat height: 17 in. Seat pitch: 2 ]3/4 in.; at seat. Seat depth: 20'1. in. overall, ContinuouJ-arm Windsor chair, made by Michael Dunbar / Portsmouth. N. H. Overall width: at arms. 0 weight chair, whose heritage dates back to early 18th-century England. Dunbar made it by hand, using 18th-century methods and tools. (The procedure is described in his book, Windsor Chair Making, Hastings House, 1976.) The seat is New England white pine, the spindles and al ms are red oak, and rhe leg turnings and strctchers Michael Dunbar's continuous-arm Windsor chair is a fine example of a well-proportioned, lightly scaled, light- The pine seat ensures a lightweight chair, and also e.arves easily and quickly. The maple is close and straight grained . strong and turns easily. Rived red oak is strong and wh n shaved to thin sections, resilient . Red oak is also right for the bow back because it can be readily steam-bent. The chair is finished with twO slightly transparent coalS of green milk paint, which obscures the differences of the several woods and allows one to visually read the form as a unified whole. In studying the size and sectional dimensions of the partS, ai 58 ,jlaplc 15% ill. usable. Seat Width: 3'/z $350. 0. Back pitch: 17 in. Overall 0 14°. '{ he arm POSt fUrnll1gs are heavier than the other spindles, for strength and support. The seat is 110/,6 in. thick at the rear, one soon realizes that these dimensions make structural sense and probably evolved by trial and error. The spindles are thin enough to flex, but strong. The bow back is square in section , measuring '3/16 in. by 13j16 in. where the spindles enter, and becomes a flat rectangle '!z in. by 1 in. where it bends into the JrI11 This shapIng provides good engagement for the spll1dlt s , yt: t rcdules thl chance. of breakage during bending. plent y of bulk for the spindle morrises, and thick enough for pronounced scooping -visually appealing and comfortable to SIt upon. The unsanded fUmed legs are substantial and look crisp . The side stretchers swell to increase the amount of wood around the joint where the center cross-stretcher enters. A key to the strength of this chair is assembling the bow under tension, done by compressing the spindles down into